I loved them, at the time they were my age an I lived in an area and a world with very little access to reggae. I believe John Peel championed them, very sad how things ended up for tell. I understand the FB3 tried to give them some advice but they were on the roller coaster...

Posted:
Sun Feb 04, 2018 10:55 pm

TrojanToo Hot

Joined: 25 Aug 2002Posts: 2322
Location: Area 3

Post subject:

Pass The Dutchie was a great single. As mentioned John Peel championed the band and seemed genuinely delighted when they reached number one (he presented one of the editions of Top of The Pop when it topped the charts). The session they recorded for his show a year previously had a much more hard edged reggae sound, which considering the ages of those involved, was quite remarkable.

Although they moved towards a pop sound, I always liked the single ‘Youth of Today’ mostly because of the video, but it was still a great tune.

Always rated them highly. I actually first saw them on Tiswas, must have been 1981 or 1982 and I was impressed by their musicianship. I also heard them on John Peel's show just before Pass The Dutchie became a hit.

My older brother saw them live at the 1984 UK Sunsplash at Selhurst Park. He said their drummer was very nervous at first and dropped his sticks, but then he seemed to get angry with himself and turned in an incredible performance from then on.

A couple of good documentaries were made of them, which I hope turn up on Youtube sometime. One was a 30 minute programme which showed them rehearsing at home, some live footage and interviews. Another was when they went to Jamaica and got to meet a lot of the artists that inspired them. Here's a clip from it: